The most creative and successful ad campaigns of recent times.

David Ogilvy in his book famously wrote that he does not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form but as a medium of information. Often “Ad-Men” in pursuit of creatively presenting a product or campaign, end up making confusing and convoluted advertisements that sometimes look great, but fail to fulfill its purpose.

However, there are some campaigns that do more than sell products. They inspire minds to initiate change.

Meet Graham

Peculiar piece of art

Australian Safety Commission took an exceptionally creative route to campaign for road safety, leading them to two Cannes Lions Grand Prix awards.

Instead of the usual “don't drink and drive” and “drive safe stay safe”, they presented a grotesque-looking, biologically enhanced man named “Graham” who could survive road accidents. The result is a hard-to-ignore brilliantly breathtaking piece of art.

Dumb Ways To Die

Smart, cute and creative

McCann created this campaign for Melbourne Metro to spread awareness about safety around trains. Penned by John Mescall, composed by Ollie McGill from The Cat Empire, and performed by Emily Lubitz, this song became a phenomenon that is shared on social media even after a decade.

The catchy chorus, funny lyrics, and memorable music were perhaps the most bizarre yet most effective choice to advertise safety around trains.

Fearless Girl

Simple yet effective

The State Street Global Advisors to promote its index fund which invests in gender-diverse companies that have a higher percentage of women in their leadership positions hired McCann for the campaign.

They came up with this simple yet effective idea to put a bronze statue of a young girl in front of the Wall Street building. The brilliance of this campaign was the positioning of the state, that stood right in front of the iconic “Charging Bull”.

This strategic positioning of the state which seemed like it was challenging the traditional structure of the corporate world won four Grand Prix at the Cannes Festival.

Like A Girl

Do it like a girl

Targeting the negative connotation attached to the female ways of doing things, particularly running, the ALWAYS campaign called “Like A Girl” is an impactful social commentary.

The three-minute video challenges the viewers to move beyond stereotypes and redefine what it means to do things “like a girl”.

Dove Sketches

Impactful social commentary

Women are often criticised for their appearances and their true beauty is not recognised. Keeping this in mind Dove created a self-esteem-boosting campaign. They hired FBI sketch artists to draw the woman based on her own description and a stranger’s description.

As a result, the sketch based on the description by the stranger was more beautiful than the woman’s own description of herself. Hence, allowing the women to see their beauty through a stranger’s eye and encouraging them to be less critical of their appearances.

Women are more beautiful than they think and this ad campaign evidently proved it.

A Diamond is Forever

Creating a ritual

Debeers company in 1947, completely changed the diamond industry with its revolutionary tagline — “A diamond is forever”. Debeers continued to build on this theme for all its subsequent campaigns. Their recent campaign “I Do”.

How does a man express his love to a woman?

This might be a complicated question. But DeBeers company came up with a simple solution. Buy a diamond ring because diamonds are forever.

The cultural impact of these ad campaigns cannot be quantified. It can only be understood. Proposing with a diamond ring became a ritual all around the world.

“FCK” — KFC

FCKing clever

In February 2018, KFC was facing a chicken crisis in the United Kingdom. The UK operations were almost near collapse and the customers were moving away from the “finger lickin’ good” brand.

What was supposed to be a marketing nightmare, became an advertising masterstroke with the “FCK campaign” by the creative agency Mother. KFC issued an apology poster showing an empty bucket of KFC with the words arranged as FCK.

The capital loss of KFC was triumphed by the profit that the brand got with this genius campaign.

Coleman Sweeney

Bizzare but compelling

In this two-minute commercial, the story of the world’s biggest asshole ends up encouraging people to donate organs. The asshole named Coleman Sweeny is rude and disgusting but somehow ends up becoming a hero for many individuals and families and leaves a lasting effect on the viewers.

This brilliant ad breaks conventional boundaries of how an ad for charity can be made. And this peculiar thought and execution is what makes it so effective.

Coleman Sweeny, the biggest asshole in the world deserves a chance to be viewed.

The Man Your Man Can Smell Like — Old Spice

Indirectly direct

The Wieden+Kennedy ad agency claims that they turned an insight about body wash into a cultural sensation, and they aren’t wrong.

This campaign for Old Spice is weird, funny, and inventive. Woven around a physically well-built character who directly addresses ladies about the potential their men have to smell like and probably look like, this ad became a sensation and repositioned the brand as a cool and modern brand that appeals to both men and women.

Creativity Goes On — Apple

Creativity in crisis

Ad agency TBWA created this campaign for Apple during the first wave of COVID-19 when most of the world was stuck inside their house during lockdown.

In “Creativity Goes On” we see a variety of Apple users showing their skills despite the obstacles, creating something out of nothing and capturing precious moments.

Creativity goes on, and so does humanity.

Honorable Mentions

Go Pro Awards

Heineken — ‘Worlds Apart’ Campaign

Snickers: “You’re not you when you’re hungry.”

Coca-Cola: “Share a Coke” Campaign

Pepsi: The “Is Pepsi OK?” Campaign

Wassup — Budweiser

Advertisement isn’t just about selling products. It's about selling ideas and letting the audience make it their own. It is an art form that is often underestimated and overlooked. However, one quick look at these campaigns and a quiet introspection shows us that we are also products of numerous advertisements that we have seen, read, and subconsciously devoured. The world as we see it is a product of great advertisements. Some products, some people, and some ideas that were cleverly advertised changed the world.

Thank you for reading.

Do share your thoughts in the comments and share genius ads like these.